Trial begins of Grenfell fraud charges pair

THE trial of two men involved in a fraud case remarkable for the cross-dressing antics of one defendant is due to begin today.

Three years ago Peter Young, a former fund manager of Morgan Grenfell Asset Management, appeared in court wearing lipstick and a dress on charges of conspiracy to defraud and offences under the UK Financial Services Act.

He has since been declared unfit to stand trial on grounds of schizophrenia but three of his fellow defendants still face charges. Stewart Armer, another former fund manager at Morgan Grenfell, and Erik Langaker, formerly of Fiba Nordic Securities, are scheduled to appear at Kingston Crown Court today. The charges against Jan Helge Johnsen, another Fiba employee, have been stayed due to ill-health.

It is alleged they set up Luxembourg companies to create a false market and influence share prices with the use of Morgan Grenfell funds.

Morgan Grenfell, which is owned by Germany's Deutsche Bank, was forced to suspend temporarily three unit trusts in 1996. The bank called in the Serious Fraud Office after an intensive internal investigation. Deutsche later injected £180m into the funds and set up a £200m fund for investors.